Chapter XVIII The Epilogue
Rev. xxii. 6-21.
The visions of the Seer have closed, and closed with a picture of the final and complete triumph of the Church over all her enemies. No more glorious representation of what her Lord has done for her could be set before us than that contained in the description of the new Jerusalem. Nothing further can be said when we know that in the garden of Paradise Restored into which she is introduced, in the Holy of holies of the Divine Tabernacle planted in the world, she shall eat of the fruit of the tree of life, drink of the water of life, and reign for ever and ever. Surely as these visions passed before the eye of St. John in the lonely isle of Patmos he would be gladdened with the light of heaven, and would need no more to strengthen him in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. Was it not too much? The Epilogue of the book assures us that it was not; and that, although the natural eye of man had not seen, nor his ear heard, nor his heart conceived the things that had been spoken of, they had been revealed by the Spirit of God Himself, not one word of whose promises would fail.
And he said unto me, These words are faithful and true: and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly come to pass. And, behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book.
And I John am he that heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee, and with thy brethren the prophets, and with them which keep the words of this book: worship God (xxii. 6-9).
Attention has been already called in this commentary both to that characteristic of St. John’s style as a writer which leads him, at a longer or a shorter interval, to the point from which he started, and to the fact that light is thus frequently thrown on the interpretation of what he says.585 Every illustration of such a point is therefore not only interesting, but important; and in the words before us it is illustrated with more than ordinary clearness.
The person introduced with the words He said unto me is not indeed named, but there can be little doubt that he is the angel spoken of in the Prologue as sent to “signify” the revelation that was to follow.586
Again, when the Seer is overwhelmed with what he has seen, and may be said to have almost feared that it was too wonderful for belief, the angel assures him that it was all faithful and true. A similar declaration had been made at chap. xix. 9 by the voice which there “came forth from the throne,”587 and likewise at chap. xxi. 5 by Him “that sitteth on the throne.” The angel therefore who now speaks, like the angel of the Prologue, has the authority of this Divine Being for what he says. It is true that in the following words, which seem to come from the same speaker, the angel must thus be understood to refer to himself in the third person, and not, as we might have expected, in the first,—The Lord sent His angel, not The Lord sent me. But, to say nothing of the fact that such a method of address is met with in the prophetic style of the Old Testament, it appears to be characteristic of St. John in other passages of his writings. More particularly we mark it in the narrative in the fourth Gospel of the death of Jesus on the Cross: “And he that hath seen hath borne witness, and his witness is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye may believe.”588
Again, we read here that the Lord sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly come to pass; and the statement is the same as that of chap. i. 1.
The next words, And, behold, I come quickly, are probably words of our Lord Himself; but the blessing upon him that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book again leads the Seer back to the Prologue, where a similar blessing is pronounced.589
Again, the remembrance of the Prologue is in the Apostle’s mind when, naming himself, he proceeds, I John am he that heard and saw these things. In precisely the same manner, after the introductory verses of the Prologue, he had named himself as the writer of the book: “John to the seven Churches;” “I John, your brother.”590 Then he was about to write; now that he has written, he is the same John whom the Church knew and honoured, and whose consciousness of everything that had passed was undimmed and perfect. This going back upon the Prologue is also sufficient to prove, if proof be thought necessary, that the words “these things” are designed to include, not merely the vision of the new Jerusalem, but all the visions of the book.
That the Seer should have fallen down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed him these things has often caused surprise. He had already done so on a previous occasion,591 and had been reproved in words almost exactly similar to those in which he is now addressed: See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee, and with thy brethren the prophets, and with them which keep the words of this book: worship God. How could he so soon forget the warning? We need not wonder. The thought of the one vision preceding his former mistake might easily be swallowed up by the thought of the whole revelation of which it was a part; and, as the splendour of all that he had witnessed passed once more before his view, he might imagine that the angel by whom it was communicated must be worthy of his worship. His mistake was corrected as before.
The prophecy is now in the Seer’s hands, ideally, though not actually, written. He may easily speak of it, therefore, as written, and may relate the instructions which he received regarding it. He does this, and again it will be seen how closely he follows the lines of his Prologue:—
And he saith unto me, Seal not up the words of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighteousness still: and he that is filthy, let him be made filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him do righteousness still: and he that is holy, let him be made holy still. Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to render to each man according as his work is. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh a lie (xxii. 10-15).
To the prophet Daniel it had been said, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end.”592 The hour had not yet come for the full manifestation of that momentous future upon which he had been commissioned to dwell. The situation of St. John was wholly different, and the hour for winding up the history of this dispensation was about to strike. It was not a time then for sealing up, but for breaking seals, a time for prophecy, for the loudest, clearest, and most urgent proclamation of the truth. “Behold, I come quickly,” had been a moment before the voice of the great Judge. Let the bride for whom He is to come be ready; and, that she may the more promptly be so, let her hear with earnest and immediate attention the words of the prophecy of this book.
It is by no means easy to say whether the following words, He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighteousness still: and he that is filthy, let him be made filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him do righteousness still: and he that is holy, let him be made holy still, are to be considered as coming from the Apostle or from the angel who has been speaking to him. This difficulty is the same as that experienced in the fourth Gospel at such passages as chap. iii. 16 and 31, where it is nearly impossible to tell the point at which in the one case the words of Jesus, at which in the other the words of the Baptist, end. It would appear as if St. John so sank himself in the person with whom he was occupied at the time that he often gave utterance to thoughts without being able to distinguish between the other’s and his own. In the present instance it matters little to whom we directly refer the words, whether to St. John, or to the angel, or to Him who speaks by the angel. In any case they contain a striking and solemn view of the relation between the righteous Judge and His creatures, when that relation is looked at in its ultimate, in its final, form. One thing is clear: that the first two clauses cannot be regarded as a summons to the wicked telling them before the Judgment to go on in their wickedness even while the period of their probation lasts. Nor can the second two clauses be regarded as an assurance to the good that there is a point in the actual experience of life at which their perseverance in goodness is secured. The words can only be understood in the light of that idealism which is so characteristic alike of the Apocalypse and of the fourth Gospel. In both books the world of mankind is presented to us in exactly the same light. Men are divided into two great classes: those who are prepared to receive the truth and those who are obstinately opposed to it; and these classes are spoken of as if they had been formed, not merely after, but before, the work of Christ had tried and proved them. Not indeed that the salvation to be found in Jesus was not designed to be universal, that there was even one member of the human family doomed by eternal and irresistible decree to everlasting death, nor, again, that men are considered as so essentially identified with the two classes to which they respectively belong that they incur no moral responsibility in accepting or rejecting the Redeemer of the world. In that respect St. John occupied the same ground as his fellow-Apostles. Not less than they would he have declared that God willed all men to be saved; and not less than they would he have told them that, if they were not saved, it was because they “loved the darkness rather than the light.”593 Yet, notwithstanding this practical mode in which he would have dealt with men, such is his idealism, such his mode of looking at things in their ultimate, eternal, unchanging aspect, that he constantly presents the two classes as if they were divided from each other by a permanent wall of separation, and as if the work of Christ consisted not so much in bringing the one class over to the other as in making manifest the existing tendencies of each. The light of the one brightens, the darkness of the other deepens, as we proceed; but the light does not become darkness, and the darkness does not become light.594
Hence, accordingly, the conversion of Israel or of the heathen finds no place in the Apocalypse. The texts supposed to offer such a prospect will not bear the interpretation put upon them. It does not indeed follow that, according to the teaching of this book, neither Israel nor the heathen will be converted. St. John only sees the end in the beginning, and deals, not with the everyday practical, but with the ideal and everlasting, issues of God’s kingdom. Hence, in interpreting the words before us, we must be careful to put into them the exact shade of meaning which the whole spirit and tone of the Apostle’s writings prove to have been in his mind when they were written. The clauses “He that is unrighteous” and “He that is filthy” are to be understood as “He that has loved and chosen unrighteousness and filthiness:” the clauses “Let him do unrighteousness still” and “Let him be made filthy still” as “Let him sink deeper into the unrighteousness and filthiness which he has loved and chosen.” A principle freely selected by himself is supposed to be in the breast of each, and that principle does not remain fixed and stationary. No principle does. It unfolds or develops itself according to its own nature, rising to greater heights of good if it be good, sinking to greater depths of evil if it be evil. Hence also we are not to imagine that the words under consideration are applicable only to the end, or are the record only of a final judgment. They are applicable to the Church and to the world throughout the whole course of their respective histories, and it is at this moment as true as it will ever be that, in so far as the heart and will of a man are really turned to evil or to good, the allegiance he has chosen has the tendency of continued progress towards the triumph of the one or of the other.
In connexion with thoughts like these, we see the peculiar propriety of that declaration as to Himself and His purposes next made by the Redeemer: Behold, I come quickly. He comes to wind up the history of the present dispensation. And My reward is with Me, to render to each man according as his work is. He comes to bestow “reward”595 upon His own; and there is no mention of judgment, because for those who are to be rewarded judgment is past and gone. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the words again taking us back to the language of the Prologue,596 upon which follows a blessing for such as wash their robes, for those otherwise described in the Prologue as “loosed from their sins in His blood,”597 and in chap. vii. 14 as having “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” These have the right to come to the tree of life, and they enter in by the gates into the city. A different order might have been expected, for the tree of life grows within the city, and it is the happy inhabitants of the city who eat its fruits. But this is the blessed paradox of faith. It is difficult to say which privilege enjoyed by the believer comes first, and which comes second. Rather may all that he enjoys be looked on as given at once, for the great gift to him is Christ Himself, and in Him everything is included. He is the gate of the city, and as such the way to the tree of life; He is the tree of life, and they who partake of Him have a right to enter into the city and dwell there. Why ask, Which comes first? At one moment we may think that it is one blessing, at another that it is another. The true description of our state is that we are “in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”598
To enhance our estimate of the happiness of those who are within the city, there comes next a description of those who are without. They are first denoted by the general term the dogs, that animal, as we learn from many passages of Scripture, being to the Jew the emblem of all that was wild, unregulated, unclean, and offensive.599 Then the general term is subdivided into various classes; and all of them are without, not put out. They were put out when judgment fell upon them. Now they are without; and the door once open to them “is shut.”600
The last words follow:—
I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things for the Churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star.
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let him come. He that will, let him take the water of life freely. I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, Yea: I come quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. Amen (xxii. 16-21).
Once more in these words it will be seen that we return to the Prologue, in the opening words of which we read, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him, to show unto His servants;... and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John.”601 The glorified Lord now takes up the same words Himself; and, connecting by the name “Jesus” all that He was on earth with all that belongs to His condition in heaven, He declares of the whole revelation contained in the visions of this book that the angel through whom it was communicated had been sent by Him. He Himself had given it—He, even Jesus,—Jesus the Saviour of His people from their sins, the Captain of their salvation, the Joshua who leads them out of the “wilderness” of this world, across the valley of the shadow of death, into that Promised Land which Canaan, with its milk and honey, its vines and olive trees, its rest after long wanderings, and its peace after hard warfare, only faintly pictured to their view. Well is He able to do this, for in Him earth meets heaven, and “the angels of God ascend and descend upon the Son of man.”602
First, He is the root and the offspring of David, not the root out of which David springs, as if He would say that He is David’s Lord as well as David’s Son,603 but the “shoot that comes out of the stock of Jesse and the branch out of his roots that bears fruit.”604 He is the “Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,”605 the substance of ancient prophecy, the long-promised and looked-for King. Secondly, He is the bright, the morning star, the star which shines in its greatest brilliancy when the darkness is about to disappear, and that day is about to break of which “the Sun of righteousness, with healing in His wings,” shall be the everlasting light,606 Himself “our Star, our Sun.” Thus He is connected on the one side with earth, on the other with heaven, “Immanuel, God with us,”607 touched with a feeling of our infirmities, mighty to save. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who shall say anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written,
For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”608
The Saviour had declared, “Behold, I come quickly,” had spoken of the “reward” which He would bring with Him, and had used various images to set forth the happiness and joy which should be the everlasting portion of those for whom He came. These declarations could not fail to awaken in the breast of the Church a longing for His coming, and this longing now finds expression.
The Spirit and the bride say, Come. We are not to think of two separate voices: the voice of the Spirit and the voice of the bride. It is a characteristic of St. John’s style that where there is combined action, action, having both an inward and invisible and an outward and visible side, he often separates the two agencies by which it is produced. Many illustrations of this may be found in his mention of the actions of the Father and the Son, but it will be enough to refer to one more strictly parallel to that met with here. In chap. xv. of the fourth Gospel we find Jesus saying to His disciples, “But when the Advocate is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall bear witness of Me; and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning.”609 In these words we have not two works of witnessing, the first that of the Advocate, the second that of the disciples. We have only one,—outwardly that of the disciples, inwardly that of the Advocate. In like manner now. The Spirit and the bride do not utter separate calls. The Spirit calls in the bride; the bride calls in the Spirit. The cry “Come” is therefore that of the spiritually enlightened Church as she answers the voice of her Lord and King. Her voice is the echo of His. He says, “I come;” she answers, “Come.” St. John then adds the next clause himself: And let him that heareth say, Come; that is, let him that heareth with the hearing of faith; let him who has made his own the glorious prospects opened up in the visions of this book as to the Lord’s Second Coming add his individual cry to the cry of the universal Church. To this the Saviour replies, And he that is athirst, let him come. He that will, let him take the water of life freely. The words appear to be addressed, not to the world, but to the Church. He that is “athirst” has already drunk of the living water, but he thirsts for deeper draughts from that river the streams whereof make glad the city of God. To partake more and more largely of these is the believer’s longing; and fulness of blessing is within his reach. Let him never say, “It is enough.” Let him drink and drink again; let him drink “freely,” until the water that Christ shall give him becomes in him “a fountain of springing water unto eternal life.”610 The statements and replies contained in these words are those of the glorified Lord, of the Church speaking in the Spirit, and of the individual believer, as they hold converse with one another in that moment of highest rapture when evil has been extinguished, when the struggle is over, when the victory has been gained, and when the Lord of the Church is at the door. He in them and they in Him, what can they do but speak to and answer one another in strains expressive of mutual longing and affection and joy?
Once more the Seer—for it seems to be he that speaks—turns to the book which he has written.
In the Prologue he had said, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein.”611 In the same spirit he now denounces a woe upon him who adds to it: God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in the book; nor less upon him who takes from it: for God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. The book has come from Him who is the faithful and true Witness of God, and it has been written in obedience to His command and under the guidance of His Spirit. St. John himself is nothing; Christ is all: and St. John knows that the words of his great Master are fulfilled, “He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.”612 Therefore may he speak with all authority, for it is not he that speaks, but the Holy Spirit.613
Yet once again, before the parting salutation, Christ and the Church interchange their thoughts. The former speaks first: He which testifieth these things saith, Yea, I come quickly. It is the sum and substance of His message to His suffering people, for they can desire or need no more. The “I” is the Lord Himself as He is in glory, not in the feebleness of the flesh, not amidst the sins and sorrows of the world, not with the cup of trembling and astonishment in His hand, but in the unlimited fulness of His Divine power, clothed with the light of His heavenly abode, and anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. Especially is the Church told that this revelation is all she needs, because throughout the book she is supposed to be in the midst of trials. To the troubled heart the Apocalypse is given; and by such a heart is it best understood.
Jesus has spoken; and the Church replies, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen to all that the Lord has promised; Amen to the thought of sin and sorrow banished, of wounded hearts healed, of tears of affliction wiped away, of the sting taken from death and victory from the grave, of darkness dissipated for ever, of the light of the eternal day. Surely it cannot come too soon. “Why is His chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of His chariots?”614 “Yea, I come quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
The salutation of the writer to his readers alone remains. It ought to be read differently from its form in the authorised English version, not “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,” but The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. For the saints the book had been written; to them it had been spoken: they alone can keep it. Let no man who is not in Christ imagine that the Revelation of St. John is addressed to him. Let no man imagine that, if he has not found Christ already, he will find Him here. The book will rather perplex and puzzle, more probably offend, him. Only in that union with Christ which brings with it the hatred of sin and the love of holiness, which teaches us that we are “orphans”615 in a present world, which makes us wait for the manifestation of the kingdom of God as they that wait for the morning, can we enter into the spirit of the Apocalypse, listen to its threatenings without thinking them too severe, or so embrace its promises that they shall heighten rather than lower the tone of our spiritual life. Here, if anywhere, faith and love are the key to knowledge, not knowledge the key to faith and love. It is in the very spirit of the book, therefore, not in a spirit hard, or narrow, or unsympathetic, that it closes with the words, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints.”
We have reached the end of this singular, but at the same time most instructive, book of the New Testament. That the principles upon which it has been interpreted should be generally accepted were too much to hope for. Their acceptance, where they are received, must depend mainly upon the consideration that while, as scientific principles, they are thoroughly capable of defence, they give unity to the book and a meaning worthy of that Divine Spirit by whose influence upon the soul of the Apostle it was produced. On no other principles of interpretation does it seem possible to effect this; and the writer of these pages at least is compelled to think that, if they are rejected, there is only one conclusion possible,—that the Apocalypse, however interesting as a literary memorial of the early Christian age, must be regarded as a merely human production, and not entitled to a place in the canon of Scripture. Such a place, however, must in the present state of the argument be vindicated for it; and as an inspired book it has accordingly been treated here. What the reader, therefore, has to consider is whether, though some difficulties may not be completely overcome, he can accept in the main the principles upon which, in endeavouring to explain the book, the writer has proceeded. These principles the reader, whoever he be, undoubtedly applies to innumerable passages of Scripture. In so applying them to the prophets of the Old Testament, he follows the example of our Lord and His Apostles; and much of the New Testament itself equally demands their application. There is nothing new in them. All commentators in part apply them. They have only been followed out now with more consistency and uniformity than usual. Archdeacon Farrar has said that one of the two questions in New Testament criticism which have acquired new aspects during the last few years is, What is the key to the interpretation of the Apocalypse?616 The question is certainly one urgently demanding the Church’s answer, and one which will without doubt be answered in due time, either in the present or some other form. May the Spirit of God guide the Church and her students, and that speedily, into all the truth.
Footnotes:
1John v. 19; Heb. xiii. 8.
2 Eph. i. 22.
3 Chap. iii. 14.
4 John xiv. 27.
5 Psalm cxxiv. 7.
6 Psalm lxxii. 1, 2; lviii. 11.
7 Compare the Greek text of Westcott and Hort.
8 John v. 19.
9 John xv. 20; xvi. 2.
10 John i. 7.
11 John i. 9.
12 John xvii. 11.
13 2 Cor. xiii. 4.
14 Compare 2 Cor. xii. 4.
15 Isa. xxii. 21; comp. also ver. 22 with Rev. iii. 7.
16 Psalm ii. 9-12.
17 Isa. vi. 5.
18 Ezek. i. 28.
19 Dan. viii. 17.
20 Psalm xlv. 3-5.
21 Ver. 9.
22 Col. iii. 4.
23 Exod. xv. 1.
24 Chaps. vii. 2; viii. 2; xiv. 6, 8, 9; xv. 1, 6.
25 Chap. xiv. 15.
26 Chaps. i. 1; xx. 1; xxii. 6.
27 Chap. xvi. 5.
28 Chap. xiv. 18.
29 Chap. vii. 1.
30 Chap. ix. 11.
31 Chap. i. 4.
32 Chap. ii. 1.
33 Chap. ii. 8.
34 Chap. ii. 12.
35 Chap. ii. 18.
36 Chap. iii. 1.
37 Chap. iii. 7.
38 Chap. iii. 14.
39 Chaps. ii. 7; xxii. 2, 14.
40 Chaps. ii. 11; xx. 14.
41 Chaps. ii. 17; xiv. 1.
42 Chaps. ii. 26, 28; xx. 4, 5; xxii. 16.
43 Chaps. iii. 5; vii. 9, 14.
44 Chaps. iii. 12; xxi. 2, 10.
45 Chaps. iii. 21; xx. 4. Comp. Trench, The Seven Epistles, p. 37.
46 Chap. ii. 1.
47 Chap. iii. 14.
48 Comp. Rom. viii. 21, 22; James i. 18.
49 Chap. i. 19.
50 Chap. ii. 7, 11, 17.
51 Chaps. ii. 29; iii. 6, 13, 22.
52 Chap. ii. 4.
53 John xv. 2.
54 Chap. ii. 14, 15.
55 Comp. Heb. ii. 10.
56 Chap. iii. 8.
57 Chap. iii. 11.
58 Chap. iii. 17.
59 Chap. ii. 7.
60 Chap. ii. 11.
61 Chap. ii. 17.
62 Chap. ii. 26, 27.
63 Chap. iii. 5.
64 Chap. iii. 12.
65 Chap. iii. 21.
66 Chap. xviii. 4.
67 Matt. xxviii. 20.
68 Ps. xxxi. 20.
69 John xv. 20.
70 Chap. i. 17.
71 1 Cor. xv. 3, 4.
72 James ii. 5.
73 1 Pet. i. 6.
74 2 Cor. xi. 2.
75 1 Cor. v. 6.
76 Chap. x. 1.
77 1 Cor. v. 1, 2.
78 Comp. chap. xviii. 4.
79 Ps. lv. 12-14.
80 Isa. xxiv. 23.
81 Chap. xxii. 16.
82 Isa. xvii. 6.
83 Isa. lxv. 8.
84 Isa. xxii. 21, 22.
85 Dods, Introduction to New Testament, p. 244.
86 Ps. xii. 5.
87 Comp. 2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8.
88 Ps. ix. 7.
89 Chap. xxi. 11.
90 Isa. vi. 3.
91 1 Pet. ii. 6, 8.
92 Heb. xii. 28, 29.
93 Ps. xcix. 1.
94 Exod. xxvi. 1.
95 Comp. Bible Educator, vol. iii., p. 290, where the writer has discussed this subject at some length.
96 Rom. viii. 21.
97 Job ix. 26.
98 Gen. iii. 24.
99 Ezek. i. 13, 14.
100 Chap. vi. 1, 3, 5, 7.
101 Chap. xv. 7.
102 Chap. xix. 4.
103 Exod. xxv. 20.
104 Ps. xviii. 10.
105 The Apocalypse, with Notes and Reflections, p. 69.
106 Ps. cxlviii. 1-3.
107 Ezek. ii. 9, 10.
108 John i. 45.
109 Gen. xlix. 9.
110 Isa. xi. 1.
111 1 Chron. xxviii. 4.
112 Col. i. 26.
113 1 John ii. 8.
114 Hos. vi. 2, 3.
115 John i. 36.
116 John xix. 36.
117 The point now spoken of has been doubted. A full discussion of it by the present writer will be found in The Expositor for July and August, 1877.
118 John xix. 30.
119 Chap. i. 18.
120 Chap. i. 18.
121 1 Pet. i. 11
122 Col. iii. 11.
123 Col. i. 15-20.
124 Rom. ix. 5.
125 Rom. viii. 21.
126 Heb. ii. 5.
127 1 Pet. i. 12.
128 Luke xv. 10.
129 1 Tim. iii. 16.
130 Eph. iii. 10.
131 Ps. xlvi. 1-7.
132 Isa. lxiv. 1.
133 Isa. xli. 2.
134 Ezek. vi. 11; Matt. xxiv. 6-8.
135 Isa. xxxii. 18.
136 Lev. xxvi. 26.
137 Ezek. iv. 16, 17.
138 Comp. Matt. xx. 2.
139 Ps. xxiii. 5.
140 John x. 10.
141 Ps. civ. 15.
142 Ps. ix. 15.
143 Lev. iv. 7.
144 Comp. chaps. i. 2, 9; xi. 7; xii. 11, 17; xix. 10.
145 Margin of Revised Version.
146 Chap. iii. 4.
147 Chap. iii. 5.
148 Chap. iii. 18.
149 Chap. xix. 8.
150 Acts xiii. 39.
151 Ps. li. 7.
152 Isa. lxi. 10.
153 Ezek. xxxvi. 25-29.
154 Matt. xi. 11.
155 Heb. xi. 39, 40.
156 John viii. 56.
157 1 Pet. i. 8 (R.V., margin).
158 Joel ii. 30, 31; iii. 15.
159 Acts ii. 16-21.
160 Haggai ii. 6, 7.
161 Heb. xii. 25-29.
162 Mal. iv. 1, 5; Mark ix. 11-13.
163 Isa. ii. 19.
164 Isa. xiii. 9, 10.
165 Isa. xxxiv. 2, 4.
166 Matt. xxiv. 29.
167 Lectures on the Revelation, p. 170.
168 Ps. ii. 7; cx. 7.
169 Ezek. ix.
170 Amos ix. 1-3.
171 John vi. 27.
172 Cant. viii. 3.
173 2 Tim. ii. 19.
174 Comp. Luke xii. 8.
175 Rom. ix. 6; Gal. vi. 16.
176 Chap. i. 7.
177 Comp. chap. xii. 9.
178 John xiii. 2.
179 Chaps. xiii. 16, 17; xiv. 9; xvi. 2; xix. 20; xx. 4.
180 The writer has treated this subject at considerable length in The Expositor (2nd series, vol. iv.).
181 Comp. John xvii. 12.
182 Isa. xl. 26.
183 Isa. xii. 3.
184 John viii. 12.
185 The Apocalypse, p. 126.
186 Professor Gibson, in The Monthly Interpreter, vol. ii., p. 9.
187 Isa. xlix. 10; xxv. 8; Zech. xiv. 16.
188 John iv. 13, 14; vii. 37, 38.
189 John i. 14.
190 Heb. xii. 22, 23.
191 Chap. xxi. 3, 4.
192 Comp. on the general thought Brown, The Second Advent, chap. vi.
193 John xiv. 27; xvii. 13.
194 Luke x. 21.
195 John iii. 29.
196 Matt. xxviii. 20.
197 Chap. iv. 8.
198 John ii. 4; xii. 27.
199 John v. 27.
200 Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, Incense.
201 Ps. l. 15.
202 Chap. vi. 10.
203 Comp. p. 103.
204 Exod. ix. 23-25.
205 Matt. xxi. 21.
206 Zech. iv. 7; Ps. xlvi. 2.
207 Jer. li. 25.
208 Exod. vii. 20, 21.
209 Isa. xiv. 12.
210 Jer. ix. 15.
211 Exod. xv. 23.
212 Comp. p. 97.
213 Exod. x. 21-23.
214 Comp. Job ix. 26.
215 Exod. x. 12-15.
216 Joel ii. 3.
217 Joel ii. 4-10.
218 Chaps. xxii. 16; i. 18.
219 Vers. 3-5.
220 Comp. p. 268.
221 Gen. xv. 18.
222 1 Kings iv. 21.
223 Isa. viii. 5-8.
224 Hab. i. 5-10.
225 Chap. viii. 3.
226 Matt. xiii. 30.
227 Chap. viii. 13.
228 Chap. ix. 4.
229 Chap. xi. 18.
230 Chap. ix. 20.
231 Ezek. ii. 9; iii. 4.
232 Comp. chaps. vi. 11; xx. 3.
233 Rom. ix. 28.
234 Comp. chaps. i. 3; xxii. 7, 10, 18, 19.
235 Chaps. i. 7; xiv. 14-16. In chap. xi. 12 “the cloud” is the well-known cloud in which Christ ascended, and in which He comes to judgment.
236 Matt. xxiv. 30; Mark xiii. 26; Luke xxi. 27; 1 Thess. iv. 17.
237 Comp. p. 25.
238 John i. 14, 16.
239 John ii. 22.
240 John xvi. 13, 14.
241 Comp. John x. 1-15.
242 Zech. ii. 1, 2.
243 Ezek. xl. 2-5.
244 Zech. ii. 5.
245 Chap. xxi. 15, 17.
246 John vii. 4.
247 Ver. 2.
248 Isa. i. 13, 14.
249 John ix. 34.
250 John ix. 35.
251 Chaps. ii. 24; iii. 1, 4.
252 Comp. Matt. xxii. 14.
253 Dan. vii. 25.
254 Dan. ix. 27.
255 John xvi. 33.
256 Zech. iv.
257 John viii. 12. Comp. Matt. v. 14.
258 2 Kings i. 10, 12.
259 Dan. iii. 22.
260 Chap. i. 16.
261 1 Kings xvii. 1; James v. 17.
262 1 Cor. x. 11.
263 Ver. 7.
264 John xvii. 4; xix. 30.
265 See margin of R.V.
266 Ps. cxxxii. 13, 14.
267 Isa. i. 10, 21.
268 Luke xxiii. 12.
269 Neh. viii. 10.
270 Esther ix. 22.
271 Comp. chap. v. 6.
272 Chap. iii. 21.
273 Rom. viii. 19, 21.
274 Chap. ix. 20.
275 Chaps. viii. 13; ix. 12.
276 1 Cor. xv. 28.
277 2 Pet. iii. 13.
278 Chap. iv. 8.
279 Comp. p. 102.
280 Isa. xlv. 15.
281 Matt. v. 8.
282 2 Cor. vi. 16.
283 Chap. xxi. 3.
284 Heb. xii. 26, 27.
285 Chap. xix. 20.
286 Gen. i. 16.
287 Chap. xxi. 12.
288 1 John i. 5.
289 Comp. ver. 17.
290 Rom. viii. 29.
291 Matt. i. 20.
292 John i. 13.
293 Comp. John i. 4.
294 John viii. 44; 1 John iii. 12; Rev. xvii. 6.
295 Chap. ix. 10, 19.
296 Dan. viii. 10.
297 Ps. lxxiv. 13; Ezek. xxix. 3.
298 Matt. ii. 16.
299 Acts ii. 23.
300 John xvi. 21.
301 1 Cor. x. 3, 4.
302 1 Kings xvii. 6; xix. 5.
303 Matt. iv. 4.
304 Chap. xi. 3.
305 Jude 9.
306 Brown, The Book of Revelation, p. 69.
307 1 Thess. iv. 16.
308 Dan. x. 13, 21.
309 Dan. xii. 1-3.
310 2 Pet. ii. 4.
311 Jude 6.
312 Luke x. 17, 18.
313 Luke xi. 21, 22.
314 John xii. 31; xvi. 11; Heb. ii. 14, 15; 1 John v. 4, 18.
315 Comp. R.V. (margin).
316 Comp. 1 John v. 4.
317 John xx. 21.
318 Exod. xix. 3, 4.
319 Deut. xxxii. 11, 12.
320 Ps. xxxvi. 7.
321 Isa. xl. 31.
322 2 Cor. xii. 9.
323 1 Cor. x. 13.
324 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10.
325 Isa. lix. 19.
326 Comp. p. 150.
327 Ps. cxxiv. 2-6.
328 Ps. xviii. 4-16.
329 John xv. 5, 6.
330 John xv. 19.
331 Chap. iii. 4.
332 Isa. lxi. 9.
333 Rom. xi. 5.
334 1 John ii. 18, 19.
335 2 Thess. ii. 6, 7.
336 Ver. 11.
337 Dan. vii. 2-8.
338 Chap. xiii. 3, A.V.
339 Chap. xiii. 3, R.V.
340 Chap. v. 6.
341 Heb. ii. 14.
342 Chap. xii. 12.
343 Vers. 3, 4.
344 Ver. 7.
345 Ver. 8.
346 Ver. 5.
347 Comp. p. 175.
348 Ps. cxiii. 5; Isa. xl. 25, xlvi. 3, 5.
349 Ver. 6.
350 John i. 14; Rev. vii. 15.
351 1 Cor. ii. 12. Comp. Gal. vi. 14.
352 James iv. 4.
353 1 John ii. 15, 16.
354 John xiv. 30; xvi. 33; xvii. 15, 16.
355 Eph. vi. 12.
356 2 Thess. i. 6, 7.
357 Ps. cxlvii. 19.
358 Matt. vii. 15.
359 Acts xx. 29.
360 Vers. 12, 15.
361 Matt. xxiv. 24.
362 2 Thess. ii. 9, 10.
363 Comp. chaps. xvi. 13; xix. 20; xx. 10.
364 1 John iv. 1.
365 Fairbairn, On Prophecy, p. 328.
366 John xix. 12.
367 Matt. vi. 23.
368 Luke xiv. 34, 35.
369 The Revelation of St. John: Baird Lectures published by Macmillan and Co., second edition, p. 142, etc., 319, etc.
370 Comp. chaps. iii. 12; xiv. 1; ii. 17.
371 Chap. ii. 17. Comp. John i. 31; iv. 32.
372 Dan. vii. 8.
373 Comp. 1 John ii. 18.
374 2 Thess. ii. 8.
375 John xii. 36-38.
376 Vers. 42, 50.
377 Ps. cxxxiii. 3.
378 Ps. ix. 11.
379 Ps. lxxviii. 68.
380 Ps. xiv. 7.
381 Ps. ii. 6, 7.
382 Isa. xxxv. 10.
383 Heb. xii. 22-24.
384 Ps. xlviii. 2.
385 Comp. Lee in Speaker’s Commentary in loc. The distinction between the two references is there wrongly given.
386 2 Cor. xi. 2.
387 1 John v. 20, 21.
388 John xxi. 22.
389 Chaps. xxi. 27; xxii. 15.
390 Heb. ix. 14; 1 Pet. i. 19.
391 Rom. xi. 16; xvi. 5; 1 Cor. xv. 20; xvi. 15.
392 James i. 18.
393 Rom. viii. 21.
394 Isa. lv. 12.
395 Ps. xcvi. 13.
396 Chaps. xvii. 1; xviii. 7.
397 Comp. chaps. xi. 9; xiii. 7.
398 Comp. James ii. 19.
399 Chaps. viii., xv.
400 They are so rendered in the margin of the Revised Version.
401 Jude 7 (margin of R.V.).
402 Rom. vii.
403 Comp. p. 108.
404 Matt. ix. 37, 38; xiii. 29, 30.
405 John xiv. 3.
406 John v. 19.
407 Mark xiii. 32.
408 Comp. the “dried up” of the margin of the Revised Version.
409 John v. 30.
410 Joel iii. 12, 13.
411 Isa. lxiii. 2-4.
412 Ver. 15.
413 Zech. xiv. 20.
414 Comp. 1 Cor. ix. 24.
415 Matt. xiii. 41.
416 Matt. xiii. 49, 50.
417 Vaughan, u. s., p. 378.
418 Exod. xv. 1.
419 Isa. lxi. 10.
420 Ezek. xxviii. 13.
421 Comp. chap. vi.
422 Exod. xl. 35.
423 1 Kings viii. 11.
424 Isa. vi. 4.
425 Exod. xix. 18; Heb. xii. 18.
426 Chap. xv. 1.
427 Comp. chap. viii. 7 and xvi. 2.
428 Comp. chap. viii. 8, 9 and xvi. 3.
429 Comp. chap. viii. 10, 11 and xvi. 4.
430 Comp. chap. viii. 12 and xvi. 8.
431 Exod. ix. 10.
432 Exod. vii. 20.
433 Exod. x. 21.
434 Isa. xi. 15, 16.
435 Isa. li. 10.
436 Zech. x. 10-12.
437 1 Kings xxii. 19-22.
438 Judges v.
439 2 Chron. xxxv. 22.
440 Ephes. ii. 2.
441 Chap. xi. 2; xx. 9.
442 Chap. vi. 14.
443 Chap. xx. 11.
444 Comp. chaps. xiii. 1 and xvii. 3, 7.
445 Comp. chaps. xiii. 1 and xvii. 3.
446 Comp. chaps. xiii. 1 and xvii. 3, 12.
447 Comp. chaps. xiii. 1 and xvii. 8.
448 Comp. pp. 75, 199.
449 Chap. xvii. 12.
450 Chap. xvii. 12.
451 Chap. xvii. 11.
452 Chap. xiii. 2.
453 Chap. xii. 17.
454 Chap. xvii. 14.
455 Comp. p. 222.
456 Ver. 8.
457 Chap. i. 18.
458 Comp. chap. xiii. 3.
459 Chap. v. 6.
460 Comp. chaps. vi. 13; viii. 10; ix. 1; xi. 13; xiv. 8; xvi. 19; xviii. 2.
461 Comp. Dan. vii. 17, 23; Rev. xviii. 3.
462 Chap. xii. 12.
463 Dan. vii. 7, 8.
464 Chap. xii. 13.
465 Acts i. 7.
466 Chaps. xiv. 8; xvi. 19.
467 Jer. iii. 1.
468 Micah i. 7.
469 Matt. xxiii. 34-36.
470 Chap. xi. 8.
471 Isa. i. 10.
472 Isa. i. 21.
473 Guinness, The Approaching End of the Age, p. 143.
474 Chap. xvii. 15.
475 Comp. 2 Thess. ii. 7.
476 John x. 16.
477 Comp. chap. xi. 10.
478 Chap. i. 9.
479 Ps. xcii. 7-9.
480 Kliefoth seems to have been the first to point this out.
481 Luke ii. 9; Acts xxvi. 13.
482 Isa. xiii. 19-22.
483 John x. 7.
484 John ix. 35.
485 Exod. xxii. 4, 7, 9.
486 Jer. xvi. 18.
487 Isa. xxiv. 10.
488 Chap. xvii. 16.
489 Chap. xviii. 8.
490 Lev. xxi. 9.
491 Isaac Williams, The Apocalypse, with Notes, etc., p. 360.
492 Matt. xxiii. 35. Comp. p. 291.
493 Vers. 10, 17, 19.
494 Jer. iv. 19; Zeph. i. 15, 16.
495 Mark x. 39.
496 Rev. i. 9.
497 John xvii. 4.
498 Ver. 9.
499 Chap. xx. 7.
500 Comp.
501 Comp. p. 250.
502 Exod. xxxiv. 7.
503 Comp. chap. iii. 20.
504 Comp. Ps. xiv. 9-15; Isa. liv. 5; Hos. ii. 19; Matt. xxii. 2; Eph. v. 32, etc.
505 John ii. 1-11.
506 John iii. 28, 29.
507 Col. i. 27.
508 Eph. ii. 8.
509 Rom. viii. 29.
510 1 Cor. vi. 11.
511 Chap. xiv. 13.
512 Matt. xxvi. 26, 27; 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25.
513 Comp. chaps. i. 3, 9, vi. 9, xi. 7, xii. 17, xx. 4.
514 Rom. ix. 5.
515 Matt. xi. 27.
516 Isa. lxiii. 3.
517 Ezek. xxxix. 17-20.
518 Ver. 9.
519 John xviii. 28.
520 The writer has endeavoured to unfold this view of Jesus on the Cross in two papers in The Expositor, first series, vol. vi., pp. 17, 129.
521 Chap. xiii. 14.
522 Burger in loc.
523 Comp. p. 297.
524 Chaps. i. 16; xix. 15.
525 Chap. xx. 15.
526 Chap. xix. 21.
527 Chap. xx. 9.
528 Ezek. xxxix. 14.
529 Chaps. i. 3, ii. 16, iii. 20, xxii. 20, etc.; 1 Cor. vii. 29; Heb. x. 37.
530 John v. 25.
531 John v. 28.
532 Comp. chap. vi. 9.
533 Chap. v. 10.
534 Comp. the teaching of our Lord in John xi. 25, 26, and v. 24.
535 John xiv. 19 (margin of R.V.).
536 Chap. ii. 11.
537 Chap. vi. 9.
538 Comp. p. 102.
539 Matt. xxv. 31-46; Rom. ii. 5, 7; 1 Thess. iv. 17; 2 Thess. i. 7, 10.
540 John vi. 39, 40, 44.
541 See authorities in Lee (Speaker’s Commentary) on Rev. xx. 2, and his excursus on that chapter.
[542] Speaker’s Commentary, u.s.
543 John xvii. 22.
544 1 John iii. 9.
545 1 John v. 18.
546 Chap. xii. 12.
547 Comp. the remarkable parallel in John i. 5: “and the darkness overcame it not.”
548 It is not to be denied that difficulties attend the interpretation of the thousand years suggested in the text. The writer would advert in a note to the two which appear to him to be the most formidable.
1. In ver. 3 we read that Satan was cast into the abyss, etc., “that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished.” Let it be granted that “the nations” here referred to can hardly be understood in any other sense than that common in the Apocalypse: the heathen, the ungodly, nations or the wicked in general. We then seem to read that there must be a time during which Satan does not “deceive the nations,” while the explanation given above has been that he was no sooner subjugated for the righteous than he was let loose to deceive the unrighteous. In his Lectures on the Revelation of St. John (p. 224, note) the author was disposed to plead that the words in question may not have been intended to indicate that action on Satan’s part was for a time to cease, but rather to bring out and express that aspect of Satan by which he is specially distinguished in the Apocalypse. In deference to the criticism of the Rev. H. W. Reynolds (Remarks on Dr. Milligan’s Interpretation of the Apocalypse, pp. 9, 27), he would yield this point. Notwithstanding the irregular constructions of the Apocalypse, it is at least precarious; and it is better to leave a difficulty unsolved, especially in a case where difficulties surround every interpretation yet offered, than to propose solutions of the sufficiency of which even the proposer is doubtful. It may be asked, however, without resorting to the conjecture formerly thrown out, whether the words “that he should deceive,” even when taken in what is said to be their only true sense, are irreconcilable with the view of the thousand years advocated in this commentary. That view is that the subjugation of Satan for a thousand years means his complete subjugation. When, therefore, it is said that he has been so shut up as “to deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished,” the meaning may simply be that in the act of being subjected he was deprived alike of authority and opportunity to deceive the nations. It lay within the power of the Conqueror to grant or not to grant him fresh liberty to do so. The “strong man” was then bound, and “his goods were spoiled.” He was completely subjected to Christ. When, therefore, we are told of the thousand years during which he was to deceive the nations no more, this language is only the continuation of the figure used in the second verse of the chapter; and what the Seer intends to express is, that during the process of his subjection, and until he should be again loosed by Him who had subjected him, he could do nothing. Satan, in short, must be permitted to come up out of the abyss either in his own person or by his agents before he can disturb the earth (comp. chap. ix. 2); and it is the purpose of God that he shall not have power to disturb it until, having been really “brought to nought” by Christ (comp. Heb. ii. 14), he shall go forth to his evil work among the nations as one who, whatever may be the increase of his wrath (comp. chap. xii. 12), has yet been overcome by another far mightier than himself.
2. The second difficulty demanding notice is presented by the words of ver. 5, “The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished.” Who are these called “the rest of the dead,” and in what sense did they “live”? The term “the rest,” applied to persons, occurs in the following passages of the Apocalypse in addition to that before us: chaps. ii. 24, ix. 20, xi. 13, xii. 17, xix. 21. In every one of these cases it refers to the remaining portion of a class mentioned, but not exhausted; and it cannot be extended to any class beyond them. Here, however, no class has been spoken of except the righteous, or rather the “souls” of the righteous, described by various particulars both of their character and their state. “The rest” of the dead must therefore belong to that class, and to it alone. They cannot be the general body of mankind, both good and bad, with the exception of those previously mentioned. Again, what is meant when it is said that the rest of the dead “lived”? The same word had occurred in the immediately preceding verse, and it must now be understood in the same sense. “If,” says Dean Alford, who has been quoted with great confidence against the present writer (Reynolds, u.s., p. 23), “in such a passage the first resurrection may be understood to mean spiritual rising with Christ, while the second means literal rising from the grave, then there is an end of all significance in language; and Scripture is wiped out as a definite testimony to anything. If the first resurrection is spiritual, then so is the second, which I suppose none will be hardy enough to maintain” (on Rev. xx. 4-6). Now that is exactly what is here maintained. The “lived” of ver. 4 is spiritual; the “lived” of ver. 5 is also spiritual. The “rest of the dead” then are the Old Testament saints of chap. vi. 9, who, by the completion of the Lord’s redeeming work, were brought up to the level of the New Testament Church (comp. p. 101). The meaning of chap. xx. 5 may thus be said to be that, the New Testament Church having had first bestowed upon it a complete redemption, the same white robes were afterwards given to the Old Testament Church, the succession being again one of thought rather than time. In this way all the members of Christ’s body are marked out as having been “dead” before they lived, thus identifying them with their Lord in chap. i. 18; the position of the words at the close of ver. 5, “this is the first resurrection,” is rendered more natural by their thus following what is wholly a description of the condition of the blessed, instead of having a sentence interposed of an entirely different character; and, finally, to say nothing of the contextual considerations already referred to, the full Johannine force of the word “lived” is preserved.
These answers to the two chief difficulties associated with the interpretation here suggested of the thousand years may not be satisfactory to all; but it is submitted that they go far at least to meet them, and that in themselves they are neither unfair nor strained. Against one thing only must the author of this commentary enter his most decided protest,—the allegation that the interpretation here offered is gained by dispensing with textual criticism (?) and by sacrificing grammar to an idea. If there be one ground more than another upon which it rests, it is upon the strictest principles of historical interpretation. It ought only to be remembered that the idiosyncrasies of an author are as much a part of such interpretation as the literal meaning of his words; and that to that interpretation, if honestly and thoroughly conducted, the most deeply ingrained prejudices will in due time be compelled to submit.
549 Comp. Matt. xxii. 12.
550 Chap. xxi. 1.
551 Acts iii. 21.
552 2 Pet. iii. 10, 13.
553 Rom. viii. 21-23.
554 2 Cor. v. 4.
555 Comp. 1 Cor. xv. 44.
556 John iv. 24.
557 In connexion with the point here spoken of, reference may be made to an interesting and instructive paper by Canon Dale Stewart, Rector of Coulsdon, in The Churchman for December, 1887.
558 Chap. xi. 18.
559 Matt. xi. 23, xvi. 18.
560 Isa. xxiv. 23.
561 Trench, Synonyms, second series, p. 39.
562 Comp. pp. 227, 357.
563 Chap. iv. 3.
564 Matt. v. 14.
565 Ps. xxxi. 21; Isa. xxvi. 1.
566 Ps. xci. 11.
567 Comp. Ezek. xlviii. 31.
568 Comp. Ezek. xl. 2, 3.
569 Chap. xxi. 9.
570 Ezek. xl. 1, 2.
571 Ezek. xliii. 2.
572 Ezek. xliv. 1-3.
573 The Apocalypse, p. 438.
574 Rom. i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 2; Col. i. 2.
575 Col. i. 27; 1 Cor. i. 30; Phil. iii. 9.
576 Eph. v. 25-27.
577 Eph. i. 3.
578 Phil. iii. 20.
579 Heb. xii. 22, 23.
580 John xiv. 20.
581 John xvii. 22.
582 1 Pet. i. 8.
583 Comp. Foxley, Hulsean Lectures, Lect. i.
584 Commentary in Clark’s Foreign Theological Library, in loc.
585 Comp. p. 373.
586 Chap. i. 1.
587 Chap. xix. 5.
588 John xix. 35. Wider questions than can be here discussed would be opened up by an inquiry how far the same method of explanation may be applied to John xvii. 3.
589 Chap. i. 3.
590 Chap. i. 4, 9.
591 Chap. xix. 10.
592 Dan. xii. 4; comp. viii. 26.
593 Comp. John iii. 19.
594 See a fuller treatment of this important point by the author in his Lectures on the Revelation of St. John, p. 286, etc.
595 Comp. chap. xi. 18.
596 Chap. i. 8.
597 Chap. i. 5.
598 1 Cor. i. 30.
599 Comp. Ps. xxii. 16, 20; Matt. vii. 6; Phil. iii. 2.
600 Comp. Matt. xxv. 10.
601 Chap. i. 1.
602 John i. 51.
603 Matt. xxii. 45.
604 Isa. xi. 1.
605 Rom. i. 3.
606 Mal. iv. 2.
607 Matt. i. 23.
608 Rom. viii. 31-39.
609 John xv. 26, 27.
610 John iv. 14.
611 Chap. i. 3.
612 Matt. x. 40.
613 Comp. Mark xiii. 11.
614 Judges v. 28.
615 John xiv. 18, R.V. (margin).
616 Expositor, July, 1888, p. 58.